Concepts and Challenges for Professional Nursing

Between aging population and people living longer, the estimated shortage of nurses will reach 800,000 by the year 2020. Those considering this rewarding career should consider concepts and challenges faced by professional nurses.

Concepts

• Many nursing programs adhere to nursing concepts, which include person, health and environment. Person is considering the needs, behaviors, developments and cultures of the patients being treated. Health includes overall wellness of a patient including both physical and mental healing, well being and coping with the illness. Environment refers to health care systems for social support for both physical and psychological support of the patient.

Challenges

• Retention is one of the biggest challenges nurses face. In 2000, an estimated 500,000 nurses in the U.S. were not employed as nurses and were either staying home or working in other fields. Shortage of staff is another challenge, creating stress and causing some nurses to transition to different roles in areas such as public health, home health or forensic nursing.

Critical Care

• As medicine and technology advance, so does the concept of critical care nursing. Staffing needs are skyrocketing in adult critical care units, emergency departments and neonatal and pediatric ICU. One of the most challenging areas of the field, critical care nursing can be intense and stressful.These in-demand nurses also face the challenge of providing emotional support for both patients and families during the trauma.